Doctor-patient relationships are as old as human civilization itself. Over the centuries this relationship has undergone, surprisingly enough, very little change. One way or another the patient and the doctor came into contact with each other in person. This process was called a patient visit or doctor visit, as the case may be. From the very beginning of this patient-doctor interaction, a certain format and structure evolved and later this was laid down as a stipulated discipline in the practice of medicine. The doctor interrogates the patient in a methodical way, the patient provides the answers, which in fact, is the history of the evolution of the patient's illness. The doctor then examines the patient, makes crucial observations and gathers diagnostic data, or information, which are the fingerprints of the illness the patient is suffering from. An intellectual process ensues in the doctor's mind, where he correlates the history of the illness with the diagnostic information he gathered and the conclusion he arrives at, essentially, is the diagnosis of the patient's malady.
Over the years, innovations like the telegraph, the telephone, fax machines and of late, the e-mail and the Internet, has enhanced the patient-doctor relationship quite substantially. These innovations have curtailed the need for more frequent personal visits, by the patient or the doctor, as the case may be. Doctors on their part however, always prefer to speak to the patient and gather vital diagnostic information personally by themselves, even when the patient is located remotely from the doctor. Thus, it would be desirable to be able to gather and transmit a plurality of diagnostic information and converse with a doctor, or medical professional, at a remote location. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide a single apparatus which could collect a plurality of diagnostic information.
Moreover, it has been observed that at least about one third of the patients who visit emergency rooms (ER) across the country, do not have emergency problems. They visit the ER because they believed that they are having a heart attack or another medical emergency, or they prefer to use the emergency room instead of paying a visit to their general practitioner (GP) or primary care physician (PCP). These unnecessary visits to the ER sometimes prove to be quite costly to the patients and/or their healthcare underwriter in more ways than one. As a first example, if someone had epigastric pain from indigestion, a visit to the GP or PCP would cost, at the most about $75.00. A visit to any ER for the same purpose could cost upwards of about $500. Also, while medical professionals tend to a patient not actually requiring emergency treatment, another patient who actually could benefit from emergency treatment may go untreated. If the patient has been provided with a means for gathering and transmitting a plurality of diagnostic information and for conversing with a medical professional at a remote location, the patient would be able to communicate with, and transmit diagnostic information to, a medical professional at a monitoring center (MC) or an ER, prior to visiting an ER. The medical professional, being able to communicate with and review a plurality of the patient's diagnostic information, can quickly decide if this patient has an emergency or not, and the medical professional is also in a position to periodically monitor this patient, over a period of several hours. This could be done at a cost which would be a fraction of an ER visit and would free up ER's to care for patients actually requiring emergency treatment.
Once we look beyond the urban areas, especially in large central and mid-western states, patients live hundreds of miles away from their doctors. Follow-up of these patients is a problem. Providing transportation to sick people is a lofty idea, but in practice is quite expensive. A means for gathering and transmitting a plurality of diagnostic information to, and for communicating with, a remote location provides the medical community with a formidable, cost-effective tool.
A means for gathering and transmitting a plurality of diagnostic information to, and for communicating with, a remote location, in addition to providing a means for preventing unnecessary ER visits, can also be helpful in providing emergency care to patients who, for all practical purposes, cannot get to an ER, such as airplane or boat passengers. The medical professional at a remote location can monitor the patient's diagnostic information and be able to communicate with the patient or persons by the patient's side for the purpose of providing medical instructions to the patient and/or persons.
In the prior art, there are devices which gather and transmit diagnostic information (such as EKG) to a remote location. However, these prior art devices are limited in the amount and type of diagnostic information they can gather and transmit. Moreover, these prior art devices are typically complicated and difficult to use. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a simple to use means for gathering and transmitting a plurality of diagnostic information and for communicating with a remote location.
If a patient were suffering from symptoms consistent with a heart attack, in order to provide an accurate diagnosis and/or course of action, the examining medical professional would preferably gather the following minimum diagnostic information: Electrocardiogram (EKG); Blood Pressure (BP); Pulse; and body temperature. In many instances, a medical professional would also prefer to be able to determine the percentage of oxygen saturation in the blood (%O.sub.2); and auscultation of the patient's heart and lungs. Also, the examining medical professional would prefer to communicate with the patient or person(s) by the patient's side to aid in gathering diagnostic information and/or to provide medical instructions. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an inexpensive and easy to use probe device which could gather and transmit to a remote location the above-mentioned diagnostic information and also provide the ability to allow oral communication with a remote location.